Stringing pianos



(No Model.)

J. RICHARDSON.

STRINGING PIANOS. I

Patented July 24, 1883.

' 1 li'u/rztor A P x UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN P. RICHARDSON, QF CAMBRIDGE, ASSIGNOR TO THE MASON 8t HAMLIN ORGAN AND PIANO COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

. STRINGING PIANOS.

SSPECIIEICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 281,794, dated July 24, 1883.

- Application filed March 22, 1883. (No model.)

.T 0 (tZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OHN P. RICHARDSON, of Cambridge, county of Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improve- -ment in Piano-Fortes, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying. drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to certain improvements in means for holding and adjusting the strings, whereby the latter may be arranged very compactly, and be quickly and securely held under any desired tension for tuning.

In this my invention the movable stringing devices, to the ends of which the strings are attached, are placed in different rows, or staggered, so that a stringing device in one row falls directly behind a space between two adjacent stringing devices of the other row. The lower portions of the said stringing devices are reduced in thickness or flattened, and bent alternately backward and forward, so as to bring their lower or hooked ends into the same plane, and the stringing devices are held at their lower ends between combs or proj ect-ions of a guide rail located above the agraffe, which is or may be of usual construction. My invention consists'in stringing devices formed substantially as described; also, in stringing devices, substantially as described, when held and made adjustable, as will be hereinafter set forth.

Figure 1 represents in front elevation a sufflcient portion of an upright piano-forte to which my invention is shown as applied to enable one to comprehend the same, one string ing device and string being omitted; Fig. 2, a vertical section on line x x of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a top plan view of Fig. l, and Figs. 4 and 5 side views of the stringing devices detached.

The invention herein described is shown as applied to any upright piano-forte, but may be applied to any usual piano forte wherein metal strings are to be held under strain.

The metal frame A, supposed to be of usual or suitable shape, such as found in pianofortes, has a projecting flange, a, and in connection with it the hitch-pins 6, bridge (I, and agraffe e,together with sounding-board bridge a, all of which are and may be of usual construction, the bridge 0 being supported, as usual, independent of its plate.

The stringing devices f g, composed of wire,

have their round shanks threaded at 2, and p from the point 6 downward each stringing deblade is bent, as shown, the device f being bent backward, while the device 9 is bent forward, as shown best in Figs. 2, 4, and 5, so that the flat parts of the stringingvdevices below the point 6 are all brought substantially into the same vertical plane and side by side, but with sufficient space between them for the strings without bringing the latter in contact; To enable this to be done, however, the round shanks of the said stringing devices have to be extended through two different lines of holes, m a, made in the flange a, the holes on falling opposite the spaces between the holes a. Usual square-headed nuts, 0, are applied to the devices f, and like nuts, 1), to the devices 9, the heads of the nuts 1), however, projecting above the heads of the nuts 0, in order to enable the tuner to more easily trace out and apply the key to' the desired nuts when tuning. 1

The strings h are shown as looped and placed about the hitch-pins b, and at its opposite end each wire is passed through a hole or opening, 4, and turned or looped one or more times over around the hooks 3 of the stringing devices; but, if desired, one such string may have its two ends connected with adja-. cent stringing devices, and be passed about a hitching-pin at the bottom, as is common. The flattened portions of the stringing devices are extended between projections or uprights 1' of a guide-rail, r, grooved, preferably, atr", (see Fig; 1,) to secure the back edges of and guide or steady the lower ends of the stringing devices substantially up to the points where the strings are attached to them, thus preventing either lateral or twisting movement of the said devices when the strings are strained for tuning.

The guide-rail is shown as attached to the plate A by screws 1- but it might be cast as a part of the latter plate. 4

I do not broadly claiin stringing devices staggered or placed in different lines, as de scribed; but I am not aware that the projecting flange a of a pianod'orte plate has ever been provided with staggered stringing devices having their lower ends brought into the same plane, so as to enable all the strings to be held at the same inclination with relation to the agraffe.

I am aware that it is not new to attach the strings of pianos to a straining-pin on a slotted slide provided with an adjusting or set screw and arranged upon the metal plate. I am also aware that it is not new to slot the heads of prismatic travelers, secure the strings therethrough, and stagger the said travelers in the metal plate, and adjust them to strain the strings by screws.

I am also aware that adjustable looselyseated suspension-hooks for strings are old, and that straining-screws staggered over the plate and provided with notched hook ends are not broadly new.

1. The projecting flange a of a piano-forteplate, combined with the staggered stringing devices having their lower or string-receiving ends in the same plane, to bring the strings in the same inclination with relation to the agrai'l'e, substantially as shown and described.

2. The stringing device having a flattened or thin lower hooked end and a thicker screwthreaded shank, and bent or inclined between its threaded shank and its flattened or thin port-ion or blade, suliistantially as described.

o. The plate A, provided with the projecti ng llange a, combined with the stringing devices f g, arranged in holes in said flange and staggered, as set forth, and provided with nuts to adjust them in said flange, the blades of alternate stringing devices being bent in opposite directions, to bring the string-receiving ends in substantially one common plane, substantially as'shown and described.

4. The 'llanged plate A and attached guiderail provided with projections r and grooves 0', and the two sets of hooked and adjustable stringing devices having their blades bent in opposite directions and connected with the flange ot' the said plate in dilierent lines and staggered, combined with the strings and with means to adjust the said stringing devices longitudinally, substantially as described.

5. Thestringing device g, having a screwthreaded round shank, a thinner or flattened lower end deflected from the end of the shank to the point 5, and a hook, I and provided with a hole or opening for the passage of the string through it, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I have signed in y name to this specification in the presence of two sub scribing witnesses.

JOHN I. RIC Hill I )SON.

\Vitnesses:

Jos. .P. Livninnonn, W. H. Sms'roN. 

